Lessons for a Western Springs Editor

When I first told my regional editor (the ever-hardworking Jim Pokin) that I planned on writing a weekly column to appear on Mondays, he was understandably skeptical. Did I realize this would mean coming up with something new Western Springs Patch-related to talk about every week, atop all my other responsibilities? Was I really prepared for that commitment? It's a challenge I'm prepared to take.

Western Springs Patch is not a blog, least of all is it my personal blog. This column is not where I discuss my dreams, stir-fry recipes, or the career-low 87 I shot at Highland Woods Golf Course yesterday (though I am proud enough of that to have snuck it in there anyway!) This editor's column is for talking about Western Springs Patch itself—the behind the scenes, or what to expect the coming week, or highlights of our past week, or updates to the site and new ways you can use our Patch.

However, this week, I do want to talk about myself—or rather, myself in Western Springs.

I am not from the area. I am originally from Andover, Massachusetts, a suburban town a little north of Boston. I have only lived in the western Chicago area for three months, just outside of Western Springs in La Grange. In those three months, I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours exploring the 2.8 miles that constitute the Village of Western Springs, learning all the things I need to know to be an effective reporter and editor for this village. Today, I wanted to share a few of the most important things I've learned so far:

-         LTHS doesn't just take its Lions seriously—it takes its lions seriously, too. You can't take five steps in either campus without being bombarded with leonine imagery. A part of me wonders if they're keeping an actual Panthera leo on the premises somewhere.

-         There seems to be a pattern to how traffic moves at the wacky intersection of Wolf, Hillgrove, Burlington, and a couple hundred trains per day. The pattern is this: try to be polite to other cars as long as you can, then make a dash for it and pray you don't get T-boned.

-         Western Springs business owners are really, really nice about putting up flyers in their windows. Why aren't there more flyers in Western Springs business windows?

-         St. John of the Cross believes they have a rather famous painting hanging somewhere in their building—but have no idea which one. Also, Jim Peterik, a founding member of the band Survivor and a co-writer of "Eye of the Tiger," has been known to attend Mass there in full rocker outfit.

-         Longest drive (time-wise) between two locations in Western Springs: the tip of Timber Trails to the corner of 39^th and Western. Approximate time: 8 minutes—assuming no train.

-         Nobody seems to know exactly why Timberview Lane isn't part of Western Springs. It just isn't.

 —okay, perhaps those aren't the most tremendously important things I've learned about (that'd be the amazing citizens and community leaders I've met.) But they are a few of the many quirks that make Western Springs such a fun place to explore and learn about. That's what I'm here to do—and if I do my job right, I may even uncover a thing or two you might not have otherwise known about. Keep checking back!